How To Keep The Faith
by CLMScagliotti
Summary: When love is lost, and loss oe'rtakes me, the rules of love, then are hidden, and chaos rules and order lost, and hidden then, my heart, from love. When Claudia Donovan had first studied this words, she was looking for Joshua. But along with her brother, she found so much more. Now she gets to study the hidden rules of the most different kinds of love. Clinks
1. Chapter 1: Undercover Again

**A/N: KNOCK KNOCK.**

**This is the very first chapter I ever posted here, and I'd appreciate feedback a lot. Warehouse 13 is definitely one of my favorite shows ever, and Clinks is a total OTP of mine, so I hope you enjoy reading this.**

**I do not own Warehouse 13, because I have yet to stumble across a wish granting artifact.**

**KTF CLM**

Chapter 1: Undercover Again

Claudia didn't know whether she loved or hated this case. She and Steve were in Nashville, because they got a ping that led to a music contest in town. Against her will, Steve and Artie had decided she should go undercover as a singer. She loved singing. She even sang at open mic in Univille whenever she could. Claudia also loved undercover investigations, as long as she could stay in touch with her team. She shot a glance to her partner, who was standing beside her, holding the Farnsworth. She remembered losing him, and she couldn't go through this again.

"Just don't get yourself killed!" she heard Artie bark. The younger agent gulped.

"We'll try our best! Not our first case, geezer!" She needed a second to realize how she was talking. Claudia was angry. Not really because of Artie, not this time at least. But right now she was hung up on the memories of Jinks' previous undercover assignment and its consequences. How she had found him. How she'd lost him. That day, it felt like she lost an important part of herself, a great piece of her heart. She wasn't sure if she ever fully got it back.

The tech genius took a breath in, listening to her heartbeat, making sure she was still alive. She looked to her best friend, listening to his breath, watching his eyes open and close, making sure _he_ was still alive. Apparently, she'd been staring, because Steve sent her a worried look now.

"Are you alright, Claude?" he asked quietly, careful not to shock her out of the trance she seemed to be captured in.

"Yeah. I'm fine, Jinksy. I just ..." She paused, considering her choice of words. She was what? Restrained by depressing memories? That would only worry him even more. "Just spaced out for a sec."

He raised an eyebrow. Claudia wondered if his lie detector had pinged. She wasn't really lying, was she? Then she realized that the Farnsworth was shut by now. How long had she been thinking? Well, she guessed it could take a while to mentally relive one of the worst moments she could remember.

When she'd lost her parents and Claire, she was too young. She could barely remember them. In all those years without her brother, she had hoped that he was still out there somewhere. She had felt terribly alone, but losing Jinksy had made her thoughtful. He had died for her. He had even said it. All that Steve went through, he had gone through for Claudia. He saved her life. Probably all of their lives. Sadly he couldn't save her _heart_, because he couldn't save _himself_. But she did. The tiniest smile crossed Claudia's lips. Yes, she had gotten into trouble at first, but it wasn't the first time she didn't do as she had been told.

But never before had she been so certain of it: This was totally worth it. He was worth everything. There was no risk she wouldn't have taken to get him back.

Sometimes she would silently think about how it would be if he wasn't _just_ her best friend. Her _gay_ best friend, she forced herself to remember. She had to remind herself of that fact too often. It had come rather unexpected when he'd told her, and she had more trouble getting it into her head than expected. It wasn't something she usually had a problem with, but in this case, it somehow bothered her. She had to admit that there was the one or other thing about him that she liked. His calm and loyal nature, his skills and appearance… Maybe she'd gotten her hopes up then, without even realizing it.

Claudia quickly shook her head. No, not _that_ thought again! Not _now_. Now they were working. They had to finish their case. People were in danger! Something about deep depressions and drugs. Not that this was anything new to Nashville's music scene…

"Well, then let's get you checked in, Rockstar." her best friend said, obviously trying to reassure his young partner. The redhead merely nodded numbly, still a bit absent. Steve started to walk towards the table, where a young blonde woman was sitting. Suddenly, Claudia grabbed her partner's wrist.

"No! I… I can't do this! I mean… there are so many people an-and… Maybe I'm barely good enough for a couple of fools in the Badlands of South Dakota! If I have to go out… out _there_ I will lose consciousness! I will stop breathing and drop to the floor! Besides, let's not forget that there is an _artifact_ involved!" she stuttered nervously.

Steve turned around, seeing the panic in Claudia's beautiful brown eyes. For a moment he caught himself mad that he rarely appreciated the stunning sight, warm and inquisitive yet so often painfully guarded. (Except when they were alone, but he chose not to read too much into that.) She was actually a gorgeous young woman.

He mentally shook himself. He could _not_ think of his best friend like that. He just couldn't. She was his BFFEWYLION, almost his sister. And he, well… he was gay.

Jinks took a deep breath in and spoke softly, hoping to calm her down. He'd do _anything_ to take some weight off her shoulders. "And what if I would go up there with you?"

Claudia shot him a confused look.

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly, before she quickly added "Not that it wouldn't be a little bit better if it wasn't just me, but I didn't know you…"

He nodded understandingly. He always understood her. It was a gift to her, even though it could make her oddly nervous sometimes.

"I can play the guitar and sometimes I even sing…. but to be honest, it's been awhile. So, I don't know. Maybe it was a stupid idea." He shook his head and suddenly found an interest in his shoelaces, then the ceiling.

Claudia just grinned, regaining a bit of her usual enthusiasm at his admission. She never said it out loud, but she loved it when he willingly shared something personal about himself with her. She knew he didn't do that a lot.

And a small part of her hoped that she had just found her emergency exit.

"Well, since it seems like we both have a bit of an issue with that kind of audience, I've got an idea: Either both of us are going, or neither of us." she said confidently, expecting him to back out now.

But apparently, her partner thought otherwise.

"Let's go then, Girl Wonder!" Now _he_ was the one grinning, while she could only stare at him in shock. "What's wrong, Claude? You didn't think I'd give up, did you?"

Claudia swallowed audibly. Her mouth opened, but she had no idea what to say. After a few seconds without gaining a response beyond that, Steve gently took her hand in his and led her to the table. The blonde smiled brightly. A little too brightly for the redhead's taste, in that moment. "Let me guess: A duet for our young love birds?"

Claudia was about to correct her, but her partner was faster. "That's the plan. She's just a bit shy. Aren't you, darling?"

She shot him a confused glare, before she settled into the role he'd dropped on her without asking for permission. With a hesitant nod, she cleared her throat and answered quietly. "I don't usually perform in front of so many people, but… I guess with my knight in shining armor here, I'll be fine."

There was a slightly mocking tone in her voice when she let that nickname roll off her tongue, obviously in response to his 'darling', but it was discreet enough so only he would notice. Furthermore, it was well masked by her brown eyes locking on his ice blue ones. Steve offered her one of his always calming, reassuring smiles. The redhead knew that this whole thing was an act, meant to make the woman believe their story, but she couldn't help thinking that he knew exactly how much she'd needed that right then.

"Alright, you just gotta write your names into the list. We'll start soon." the cheerful blonde told them.

Claudia hesitated, quickly deciding that she couldn't use her actual name for this. It was supposed to be an undercover operation after all. Then she remembered the self-made passport she carried around with her since the day she used it at the Regent Sanctum. She took the pen and signed with "Donna LaDouciva". The anagram had worked once already, why shouldn't it work twice? Besides, it wasn't like she never used other fake IDs before. Maybe she wouldn't even need it at all, and if somebody would ask for it, she knew it was authentic enough.

When she glanced down at the list again, Steve had already signed with a made-up name too. "Robert LaDouciva". The redhead raised an eyebrow, but chose not to comment.

To her 'luck', the blonde wasn't quite on her side though.

"Oh, you're married? Congrats!" she said joyfully.

Before Claudia had a chance to say anything, her partner answered for both of them _again_. "Thanks. We're traveling around at the moment. It's all part of my treasure's dream honeymoon."

Claudia's eyes widened only the slightest bit, but internally she was screaming her thoughts off a cliff. His _treasure_? Their _honeymoon_? Where the hell was he getting his ideas today? She struggled to keep up her façade, until her 'husband' sent another bright smile into her direction. It was so caring and affectionate, so _sincere_, and the senior agent had to admit that she kind of started to like her… _their_, cover story. So, she decided to have fun and play along.

"Yeah, he's such a sweetheart! Caring about all of my worries and wishes. Couldn't ever ask for a better one." She shot _her_ Jinksy an exaggeratedly dreamy smile, silently hating how much she loved playing this role. She almost had to laugh at how unlike herself she sounded, but it was so damn _easy_.

Steve really was an amazing undercover agent, although she had already known that. He lovingly gazed into the eyes of his 'wife', as if nothing else in the world mattered to him. It was an extremely convincing performance.

Claudia tried not to make it too obvious when she broke eye contact. Maybe he was a little _too_ good at this. Her eyes found their still entwined hands, and again the gears in her head started turning wildly. She thought about other times when they had been holding hands.

Like on their first mission together, at the hospital. Nice. Warm. Reassuring. Friendly. Sibling-like. The beginning of a great friendship.

Or like when he was dead. Sad. Cold. With something missing, something important ripped away from her.

But now? Again it was nice and warm, reassuring and friendly. Somewhat sibling-like. However, there was something else.

The redhead couldn't quite put her finger on it. She didn't know if it was just her, or if he felt it too. If he even noticed it. If he thought about it. If he would care about it. If he knew what she felt, noticed, thought and cared about.

But most of all, she wondered if he even knew how much he meant to her. Damn it, she wasn't even sure if _she_ knew that!

Claudia forced her gaze to the floor. She had to focus, remind herself again that there were people possibly _dying_ out there and that it was her job to _save_ them! It was _their_ job. She could whine about her own pathetic issues once they were done here.

The younger agent tightened her grip on her best friend's hand, letting him lead her behind the stage.


	2. Chapter 2: Sing Me A Lovesong

**A/N: KNOCK KNOCK.**

**This chapter got online a little later than I had planned, but here it is. I still don't own Syfy's Warehouse 13 and I also don't own the song I used. Thanks to Koheiri-san and B R Cary for helping me to choose one of the many songs I associate with this awesome ship.**

**I hope you like it. Feedback is always helpful.**

**KTF CLM**

Claudia nervously glanced around the backstage area. She spotted a bunch of instruments. She counted three guitars, a piano, a drum set and four microphone stands. The redhead scanned each item individually, half searching for the artifact among them and half trying to calm herself down. She quickly ran her hands through her dyed hair and gripped her neck. She'd done this a couple of times already, so she could do it again.

Couldn't she? She couldn't. _Why_ couldn't she?

Then another thought crossed her mind. She wouldn't merely sing on that stage, she would sing _with Steve_! At the beginning, she was glad that she wouldn't have to go out there alone. However, now it made her even tenser. By now, she was painfully aware that she'd always had a little crush on him. That rare smirk of his, the soulful blue eyes, the way he calmed her down, the way he reacted to her jokes and her success and her failure… But that had always been it. A crush. An _unwanted_ crush. Because she knew he'd never think of her that way.

Wait. How the hell did her thoughts go from being afraid to sing in public back to her stupid feelings for her best friend?

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize that Steve was now standing right beside her. "So, what are we going to sing? Because to be honest, I'm not sure I could rock The Runaways like you naturally do. Any ideas?"

Claudia snapped out of her trance and dropped her arms at her sides again, turning to glare at her partner.

"Dude! Didn't I tell you to stand louder? Maybe just a little noise or something? You're like a freaking ninja cat, just sneakier!" she barked, leaving her friend stunned. Seeing the concern in his bright eyes, she sighed and quickly added a rushed reply to his question. "No, no idea. Do they have something like a list with songs here?"

"No, they don't. But that's not currently my primary concern. You're mentally in a completely different world today. Nervous, and you even seem angry. Something is wrong. What is it, Claude?" Claudia attempted to avoid his gaze, but when he placed a hand on her shoulder, the redhead cautiously looked up. Her eyes lingered on his hand for a moment, before she convinced herself to face him properly. She could see the worry in his captivating eyes, and it sincerely touched her that Steve cared about her so deeply. But she just couldn't tell him that he himself was the main reason for her odd and not exactly helpful behavior. What could she do? Should she try to lie to him? He would notice, and he wouldn't be happy about it. But even that sounded better than telling him the truth right now.

"It's nothing. I'm fine, I just... didn't catch much sleep last night." That wasn't even a total lie. She really hadn't gotten a lot of rest lately. So maybe it could work...

"You're lying! That's not really why you're acting like this. Why do you still think you can get away with lying to me, Claudia? I'm worried. I want to help you, so please talk to me."

She sighed in defeat. Of course, she wasn't that lucky. And with the way he was looking at her right then, she had to say _something_ to calm his nerves.

"Okay, Jinksy. It's not all unicorns and rainbows at the moment. But can we _please_ discuss this another time? We have to concentrate on the case right now. It's not easy, but I'll live. Unlike quite possibly the people who get whammied by that crazy whatever we're here for. Okay? Now, a song. One we can both sing and play. Suggestions?"

She was still a little distracted, but she had gained a little confidence. Until Steve's next words screwed that up again.

"Well, we told them that we're married, right? We should… You know, stick to the story." He cleared his throat, firstly showing doubts. But it didn't seem like he would let that hold him back. "You know Lifehouse, don't you? They've got a song called You &amp; Me. I can play it, and I know the lyrics. Livi loved it. She was the one who taught me how to play the guitar. You two really got a lot in common."

He'd added the last sentence a little more quietly, but with a smile on his lips. And Claudia couldn't help smiling along. They had both learned how to play from their older sisters. One more thing _they_ had in common. It actually hurt a bit, how many details she'd unexpectedly added to the list in the back of her mind over the years. He wasn't exactly making this easier for her.

"I know it. It's… a good song."

An underestimation. The redhead absolutely understood why Olivia had adored this piece, but it was sort of a _love song_ after all. The idea of singing it with her gay best friend, whom she secretly had a crush on, didn't exactly relax her.

"You know how to play it?" Steve asked cautiously. Something in his voice told her that he was a little hesitant about his choice too.

She tried to sound sure of herself, but it was hard enough not to start stuttering. "Yeah, I guess I do. I mean, I've played it before."

"So, we've got a song then." He grabbed one of the guitars and handed her another one, doing his very best to reassure her with one of his usually very soothing smiles. The problem was that Claudia knew him well, and she could see how forced the mask of certainty was.

She reached out to take the offered instrument, and immediately regretted it. Because just then, the thought that their hands might brush crossed her mind. And 'surprisingly' enough, they did, before she could even think about pulling back. The young woman flinched, mentally cursing herself for not thinking this through beforehand.

"Sorry." she muttered. Seeing how confused he was about her reaction, she quickly grasped for an honest enough excuse. "I'm just still a little bit jumpy because of this whole thing, I guess."

She wasn't even sure if she was talking about performing in front of such a large audience, or about performing alongside Steve. Claudia just hoped that he wouldn't notice that.

Before he could even think of a response, the blonde stepped up beside them. "You're next. Ready to rock this?" she asked cheerfully. They both nodded slowly, feigned smiles on both of their faces.

The curtain was still closed when they settled down on the barstools on-stage. Claudia dared to smile in Steve's direction, receiving the same gesture in return as he raised his gaze a second later. It was an encouraging smile, but right now she wasn't sure if it was meant for her or for himself. Probably both.

They both took a deep breath in when the curtain moved aside and revealed the audience to them, and them to the audience. Claudia felt her heart racing in her chest. It felt like an eternity, even if it probably only lasted a few seconds, till she heard Steve playing the first notes of the song.

And then, she heard him sing.

"_What day is it? And in what month?_

_This clock never seemed so alive._

_I can't keep up, and I can't back down._

_I've been losing so much time."_

Claudia felt the corners of her lips raising again. He had a great voice, and he was in it with his heart. That alone made her instinctively join in, so they sang the chorus together.

"_'Cause it's you and me, and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to lose._

_And it's you and me, and all of the people,_

_And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you."_

Steve nodded towards his partner with a small smirk, and Claudia took over the upcoming lines.

"_All of the things, that I want to say, just aren't coming out right._

_I'm tripping on words,_

_You got my head spinning,_

_I don't know where to go from here."_

As they began the chorus together again, Claudia couldn't help thinking about how dangerously honest she was being with another person's words falling off her tongue.

"_'Cause it's you and me, and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to prove._

_And it's you and me, and all of the people,_

_And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you."_

It felt like they had done this a thousand times already, when Claudia intuitively continued without him for the following lines.

"_Something about you now,_

_I can't quite figure out."_

And as if they had trained it a million times, Steve automatically took over the next two lines, before they sang the chorus in unison once more.

"_Everything she does is beautiful,_

_Everything she does is right."_

"_'Cause it's you and me, and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to lose._

_And it's you and me, and all of the people,_

_And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you_

_And me and all of the people, with nothing to do and nothing to prove._

_And it's you and me, and all of the people,_

_And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you._

_What day is it?_ _And in what month?_

_This clock never seemed so alive."_

Once they finished the song, Claudia came to her senses again and blushed slightly despite herself. She registered the audience's applause, but her primary focus remained her best friend. He grinned more brightly at her than she was sure she'd ever seen before. It made the redhead's heart skip a beat, before she realized she was just as happy and probably looked like it too.

If only there wasn't that twinge nagging at her heart, reminding her that Steve had simply performed a song. That tiny but insistent voice inhabiting her mind, telling her over and over again that he was merely doing his job. That for him, those words weren't as painfully true as they were for her.


	3. Chapter 3: Another Whammy Another Worry

**A/N: KnockKnock. So, this one took me longer than I expected. It was hardest to write for me till here. I did some research and I hope it's all good this way. **

Back behind the stage Claudia and Steve set the guitars back to their places. They shot each other short glances, both of them still smiling brightly. It felt so harmonic. So relaxed. The moment felt perfect to her. So she made a quick decision, or she thought so.

'Now', Claudia thought,'If I don't talk to him now, I never will! He needs to know what I feel, even if he doesn't feel the same. It's not fair to lie to him. He would notice it anyway. But what if he wouldn't? What if it would make everything worse?'.

She knew he'd never want to hurt her. He would try to help her. But what would that mean for him? She couldn't do that to him. But she had to, right?

She cleared her throat. "Listen Steve...I...", suddenly the redhead stopped dead in her tracks. She felt a little dizzy. Okay, maybe more than just a little. She felt her heart racing again, but this time it was different.

"Steve?". She sounded so different now. Something was wrong. When Steve turned around to look at her he was shocked by the sight. His partner just stood there. He'd never seen her so pale. So exhausted. He walked back to her and carefully touched her arm. "Claude? What...what's happening? How are you?".

Claudia looked up to him. "I'm...I'm fine. Really. Just, did someone turn up the heater? I feel kinda...", her voice was weak, barely a whisper. She felt like crap, but she had worried Steve enough for today.

He carefully touched the young womans head. His eyes widened with even more worry. "Claudia, you're burning!". It had to be the artifact. What else could it be? But what was the artifact? The police had blamed it all on drugs in the other cases. But he saw similarities to now. High fever. Pale skin. And she was shaking violently now. His mind was racing with the same speed as her heart.

Claudia began to panic when she noticed that her vision began to flicker. She stumbled backwards and walked against a wall. Slowly she sat down on the floor and pulled her knees under her chin. She forced herself to look up and paniced even more when she saw everything twice. She tried to think. What did she touch? How had it started? How could she stop this? The questions in her head became more and more but she wasn't able to think clearly enough to answer a single one of them.

Steve was nearly as scared as her. He just stared down to the usually so strong redhead for a couple of seconds. When he came to his senses again he decided that he needed help. The agent quickly pulled his Farnsworth out of his jacket and called his boss. He picked up a few seconds later. "Artie, listen. We have a situation here and..."

"What is it? Please tell me you know more now than when you last called me.", Artie cut him off in his usual grumpy mood.

"Artie, it's Claudia. She...", Steve hesitated and looked back at his partner before he turned to the screen again. "I think she got whammied."

Now the older man looked just as worried as him. "Why? What happened? How is she?".

Steve took a deep breath and stuttered, "I don't know what exactly happened. We just came backstage again after our performance. Out there everything was fine. Now she..she has high fever. She is shaking. She...", the younger man turned his Farnsworth so Artie could see it himself. The old agent gulped and put his hand in front of if mouth. Then he clasped his hands behind his hand.

When Steve turned the communication device back around Artie was already furiously typing at the computer. "Shaking, fever, dizziness...anything else?".

Steve looked in Claudias direction again. "She's really pale." His voice was quiet now. Just minuits ago the world seemed so perfect and now everything went wrong. He tried to calm himself down. To remember that this wasn't the first time anything like this happened. That it always found a good end. It had to. He slowy took a step forward and carefully lowered himself down so he could look at his partners face.

The redhead looked at him. She was breathing heavy. "Heart. Racing. Sight. Flickering.", she gulped and touched her forehead.

He nodded and stroke a piece of her hair out of her face. "It will be allright. We'll find out what to do.". He didn't know whether he tried to help her or himself right now. He heard their boss talking about artfacts that could cause symtoms like hers in the background. But Steve was too focused on Claudia to actually listen to Artie.

The young woman looked so weak. Almost like...like Livi had looked when she had...Suddenly Steves eyes widened. He remembered that face. That haunted look. "Artie, diabetes." He simply said, a blank expression on his face.

"What? How did you get this idea?", Artie asked.

"My sister, Olivia, had diabetes. This reminds me of one of her attacks. It was rarely ever so bad, but...do you think it's possible? Is there an artifact that could do that?", his panicked eyes wandered back and forth between the Farnsworth and Claudia. Olivia didn't die because of her illness, but the first time it was a really close call. They had to bring her to the hospital. They were both very young back then. That was the day they found out about his sisters illness. And because nobody knew what was happening, they needed some time to figure out how to help her. He was so scared. But she always survived. And so would Claudia. He would make sure she would.

Artie was researching diabetes-connected artifacts in the music scene of Nashville. Both men stared at the different screens when the computer gave a loud noise.

"Cash.", the old man grumbled. In panic Steve was one step from asking Artie if he had caught some street slang wrong or if he was actually talking about money in a situation like this. Then it hit him.

"Wait, are you telling me that we are looking for a Johnny Cash artifact?", he asked. "Artie, Cash was a singer and a guitarist. We are at a music contest. This could take hours! Hours we might not have! Can't we just call an ambulance and let the doctors cure her the normal way?". Now Steve was angry. He didn't knew where to direct his anger, since he didn't know who caused all of this. But once he would find this guy...Jinks once again had to keep himself calm. It wouldn't help her if he freaked out like that.

"Steve, it's an artifact. The doctors wouldn't understand what's wrong. They would just ask questions. They can't help her now. But we can."

The younger agent nodded. "Okay, so what do we know?". While he talked to his boss he kept glancing over to the redhead. She was still shaking, but at least it didn't look like it had become any worse than before.

"Allright. Apperantly Cash was at the hospital multiple times because of illness or, so the rumors say, drugs and alcohol. But the reason for his death, at 2 a.m. on the 12th of september 2003, was a diabetes attack. Some people think it was caused through stress and through heartache, because a couple of months ago his beloved wife June had died. It was never really confirmed what happened and if it was partly caused by June's death, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't too unimportant either.".

Steve nodded at the information, his blue eyes half watching Claudia and half searching the room. Now he just needed to find something that belonged to a singer backstage at a music contest to save his partners life.

**A/N: They didn't exactly give us much input about Olivia so I thought something out myself. I have seen Allison playing a diabetes attack on One Tree Hill once, but I don't know how accurate I wrote it. All the infos about J. Cash are from my online research. Feedback is always helpful. - KTF CLM**


	4. Chapter 4: You'd Never Know

**A/N: KNOCK KNOCK, okay, I know this isn't the best I've ever written. But it already took me long enough to come back to this storyat all. The new chapter of TCD is kind of a struggle. Meanwhile the ideas for my newest story seem to be endless. **

**So while I'll keep writing for this, my main focus will probably be there.**

**As always, I hope you like it anyway. **

**KTF CLM **

Steve's pale blue eyes were searching through the room in panic. But his concentration kept leaving him. Wandering back to Claudia.

A pale, shaking Claudia. He hesitated. He knew he'd have to leave her side to look for the artifact, but he couldn't just leave her alone like this. Not now.

The redhead could barely recognize her partner sitting right in front of her. She hadn't caught much from his conversation with Artie. Just smaller pieces. He'd been talking about Livi. And Cash. And dia-something. She knew that his sister had diabetes, so she guessed that was what they were talking about. But that was all she could process.

But if they had a clue, what was he still doing here? Shouldn't he be snagging an artifact?

Was he still here to keep her company?

"Steve?"

"Listen Claude, I'm not gonna leave... "

"Go."

It was just a small word. She couldn't manage so much more. But it shocked them. Both.

Claudia didn't want to be alone now. But she tried to use what little parts of her brain were still active rationally. If he wouldn't leave, he wouldn't neutralize the artifact. If he wouldn't neutralize the artifact...

Neither of them was ready to follow this thought any further. Not until they absolutely and necessarily had to.

"Claudia, I can't just... "

"Go.", she repeated in a weak voice. "Please."

Steve nodded. He knew that she was right. But it didn't feel right. It felt wrong to leave her behind. But they both knew that he had go.

The man slowly stood up. He couldn't help but turn back to his partner one more time. And his eyes got stuck on her.

He hadn't just faced death several times, damn it! He had already been dead for a few days!

But this felt so much worse than dying. It was the fear to lose her. The fear that this time, she could be the one who died. And he wouldn't be able to bring her back.

"Go. Now."

He had to smile a little at her determination. Even now his senior agent was still giving him orders. That was a good sign. Definitely.

"I'll be back soon, Claude. Hold on."

He ran across the room. The only equipment that they had actually used, besides the guitars, was still on stage. Of course he had tried her guitar first. But it didn't give the slightest spark.

He ran to the reception and told the woman from earlier that they had to stop the contest now.

"I don't understand. Is something wrong?"

"Is something wrong? Is something wrong? Listen up: my... wife is behind the stage and she's severely ill. And whatever caused this is still on your damn stage! So what do you think? Is something wrong?"

Right now he couldn't care less about his Feng Shui or his karma. Right now the only thing that mattered was Claudia.

"But that's impossible! There's nothing here that could make your wife ill. It's all clean, I swear!"

The blonde was half talking to him, half to the people behind him who seemed to find this conversation very interesting.

"Are you deaf or just dumb? I don't care about how this makes you look! All I care about is the fact that Claudia's dying back there!"

"Who's Claudia? I thought your wife's name was Donna."

"Really? Out of everything I told you that's what you heard?"

"I... I'm sorry but... "

"Oh, you will be! But how about you start using what little brain you've got and stop this before anyone else gets infected?"

The audience behind him was whispering. They were nervous. Then they started asking questions.

"Did he say infected? Is this place making us sick?"

"Oh my god! I was up there on stage just fifteen minutes ago!"

"Should I call an ambulance?"

"Maybe they'll have to lock us up in here. What if the decease is in the air?"

This wasn't what Steve had planned, but it emptied the floor and it scared the receptionist. So the effect was the one he wanted.

Meanwhile behind the stage Claudia had trouble to breath properly. She tried to focus her eyes on one single point, but her focus was fading more and more.

Suddenly she was doubting her decision to send Steve away. What if she'd die?

She would die alone. And Steve would blame himself. No, that couldn't happen!

That's when the realization sunk in.

She could die. And he'd never know.

He'd never know how he kept haunting her dreams. He'd never know how much she secretly admired his thoughtful attitude. He'd never know, what she just realized herself.

That she had fallen in love. She fell in love with Steve, and she fell deeper than ever before.

She had been too afraid to hit the ground. She couldn't even admit it to herself, not till right now.

Because it seemed the moment she truly realized that she needed him, was the moment she lost him back when he died for her.

And the moment she recognized her own true feelings for him, was the moment when she couldn't feel anything else anymore.

She felt her rational thinking fading. She felt her eyes falling shut. And then, she didn't feel anything.

Steve sprinted onto the stage and looked around. He bagged the microphone, nothing. He bagged the top of the microphone stand, nothing. The only things left ungooed on stage were the stools. But he couldn't just bag these.

Then he remembered the spray can of goo that Claudia had in her bag.

He ran backstage, secretly grateful for the opportunity to check on his partner.

But when he caught sight of her, all the color that was left on his face disappeared.

Claudia was lying on the floor, even paler than when he left her. But now she wasn't breathing heavily. She wasn't shaking.

No, even worse. The redhead wasn't moving at all.

For a moment he just stood there, frozen in shock.

He needed a few seconds to collect his thoughts. Once he could move again, he ran over to the woman on the ground. He placed one hand on her inner wrist and the other one on her forehead.

She still had high fever. It worried him, but at least she wasn't cold yet.

At the beginning he didn't feel anything on her wrist.

His heart skipped a beat, just when he felt that hers was still beating.

It was a weak pulse, but it was there. He let out a relieved breath and shoved a streak of fiery red hair out of her pale face.

He quickly ran over to her bag and snatched the spray can out.

"It'll be over soon, Claude. I promise."


End file.
